Thursday, June 15, 2017

D.C Judge Keeps Dakota Controversy Alive

A federal judge ruled in favor of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe on Wednesday, handing the tribe its first legal victory in its year-long battle against the Dakota Access pipeline.James Boasberg, who sits on D.C. district court, said that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers failed to perform an adequate study of the pipeline’s environmental consequences when it first approved its construction. In a 91-page decision, the judge cited the Corps’ study of “the impacts of an oil spill on fishing rights, hunting rights, or environmental justice” as particularly deficient, and he ordered it to prepare a new report on its risks.The court did not, however, order the pipeline to be shut off until a new environmental study is completed—a common remedy when a federal permit is found lacking. Instead, Boasberg asked attorneys to appear before him again and make a new set of arguments about whether the pipeline should operate.

On the one hand, this is a rather pointless victory for the tribe… at least for the moment. If the judge doesn’t order the pipeline to be shut down then nothing has been accomplished other than yet another round of administrative reviews and business continues as usual. But Boasberg clearly left the door open to the possibility of a shutdown by entertaining new arguments on that point.

Is Judge Boasberg part of "The Resistance"? D.C. District? Probably. And he used the term "environmental justice" so he's clearly a fraud.

This strikes me as having serious balance of powers issue. The legislative branch gave the power to make the decision to the administrative branch, which has a well developed, if not exactly perfect, arm to evaluate and make the decisions. There is no way for a judge, even if he sits in Washington DC, has the technical knowledge to understand, let alone supersede the Army Corps.